Letter Home
by CallOfBooty
Summary: This story is a letter home from one of Odyssey's men. We had to do it for homework in English class, & I think I did a good job. please keep in mind that we only read the abridged version. Reviews Welcome! Enjoy!


Jesse Tompkins  
  
English H-I  
  
Mrs. Nicholson  
  
11-7-03  
  
Odyssey Journal  
  
My loving wife Eurymones,  
  
I regret that I have not written to you in the past year, or however long it has been, I can't remember, my deepest apologies. We have been very busy encountering many troublesome tasks. To be honest, I am afraid I shall not return home.  
As a sit here in a dark cave on the island of the Sun, I think of all the events that have happened. I shall share them with you, my darling, so you will know what a brave man I have been. If I do not make it home, tell our sons the story one-day, and they will have honor in their father.  
Once the war was over, we left Troy. We made a quick stop to celebrate our victory at the settlement of the Cicones. In our moment or pride and being drunk, we attacked the natives. This was a horrible mistake, however, and while we slept threw the night, an army of Cicones surprised us. Many good men were lost.  
After that, we all wanted to go back to sweet Ithaca, more then anything! But alas, the almighty god Zeus seemed to be against us. A horribly strong storm drove us off course. We landed in the Land of the Lotus Eaters. They were a friendly people and did us no harm. But the Lotus Plants. many men, including myself, were ensnared by the spell of the Lotus that comes upon one once one eats it. All of our worries seemed to go away. We no longer wished to return home. Odysseus, as the brave leader he is, dragged us back unto the ship and we left. I thank him dearly for saving me.  
Our next stop was the worst encounter to cross our path. We stopped at an island. It looked innocent enough, but we were unaware and unprepared for the Cyclopes! Yes, Cyclopes, dangerous one-eyed giants that inhabited the island. We sneaked into one's cave-home, planning to steal what good food and livestock it might have stored. When he came back from sheep herding, he was unpleasant, and was angry to have seen us invading his home. Odysseus acted friendly, we tried our hardest to worm our way out of the deadly situation. Unfortunately, the bloody brute grabbed two of our best men and eat them alive with furry. I was shocked! He had taken away my best friend, Alpin. I cried to Zeus in mercy, but nothing else could be done. He then decided he would devour the rest of us slowly, each day eating one more. Odysseus would not let this be our doom. He thought of a clever trick to rescue us all. One night, as the Cyclops, Polyphemus, he was named, ate two more of our men, Odysseus offered him the sweet liquor of Euanthes' son Maron had given him. This drink was so powerful; it had to be diluted with twenty glasses of water for it to be safe for a mortal man to drink. Not knowing this, Polyphemus, the evil beast, drank the whole bottle. Soon he became drunk and fuddle and flush appeared. Later when he fell asleep, the real action began. During the day we had crafted a sharp point to the tip of Polyphemus's giant walking stick. Now, Odysseus and with the help of four other strong men, placed the pointed end in the fire. When it was hot, they drove the spear into his eye until it popped. Full of rage, Polyphemus opened his large cave door that we could not have, and waited for us to come out. We then all hid underneath the bellies of the beast's sheep as they walked outside to graze. It was so fantastic to make it make to the ships! Sadly, Odysseus began bragging, full of pride, at Polyphemus. The Cyclops then prayed to his father, Poseidon, god of earthquake and sea, that Odysseus and his men should not ever return home. I was devastated to hear such words. I prayed to Zeus to forgive Odysseus, I fear it hasn't worked though.  
As we sailed north, we met King Aeolus, god of the winds. Little did me and the other men know that he had given Odysseus a powerful object that helped us. The ships began heading back to Ithaca. At last I was happy and full of joy, especially when Ithaca came into view. But ever since we had left King Aeolus, we had known he had given our captain Odysseus some sort of a gift. Most of the men grew jealous, greed gnawed at them constantly as they wondered what valuable treasures Odysseus wasn't sharing with his crew. So naturally, when Odysseus had fallen asleep, the men opened the bag. I protested against it, but sadly I must admit I wanted to know also. With a great rush, all of the bad winds came pouring out, and we blew all the way back to King Aeolus! We then knew why we had sailed so well; Aeolus had given us all the bad winds so we would only have the favorable winds behind our ships to push us home. What idiots we were! Odysseus cursed at us, and became even angrier when Aeolus refused to help us a second time.  
After several days at sea, we reached the land of the Laestrygonians. These monstrous cannibals sacked all of our ships except for one. The ship I was on, and thankfully Odysseus as well.  
Our next stop was a forest, somewhere.. Others and myself went about exploring. We came upon a small cabin; inside it was filled with food beyond anything we had eaten in the past months! We all began eating to our delights, stuffing ourselves, and taking more than we needed. Then, before our very eyes we turned into pigs! The goddess Circe had placed witchcraft upon us. I was horrified. Thankfully, one good man had ran back to get Odysseus. Odysseus was able to persuade Circe to turn us to our human form using a magical herb that the messenger god, Hermes, had given to him. I was relived when she turned us back. We must have stayed with Circe for about a year, but is hard to tell. It was actually a nice place to stay and we were fed well. Circe then told us we must travel to the land of the dead. There we were to learn from the blind prophet, Tiresias, advice on how to return home.  
Our hearts hung low as we passed through the desolate location of the land of the dead. I could tell that in all men's eyes they were afraid. I was also. I had no idea what sort of creatures we could possibly encounter. We found a spot, and there, we slaughtered a sheep that we had brought. We offered the blood to Tiresias; it was his to drink. Suddenly, frightening ghostly figures of men, women, children, and warriors approached. They wanted to drink the blood for themselves. I must say I was uncomfortable and scared in their presence. I also pitied them, for we had to fend them off. Tiresias would not except the blood if another had drank from it. Then, a friend of ours approached; he was Elpon. He told us he died when he had gotten drunk and fell off of Circe's roof. We had to return there to give him a proper burial. I grieved at the sight of him. I also noticed Odysseus crying. I had never seen him weep before. Perhaps he had seen someone else trapped in this horrible place that he had loved and once knew? Tiresias then finally showed himself and drank. He then told Odysseus and us that he would eventually return home, but he must not injure the cattle of the Sun god Helios. We then left, and I was grateful.  
We then made the journey back to Circe. The first task we did was find Elpon's body. It was no more then a skeleton when it was found. We then performed the usual rituals for burial. We even placed an oar upon his grave because he requested it. I prayed to Zeus that he would make it on to the afterlife. We left early the next morning as Dawn rose to make the first rays of day. We had luck when we departed, for there was a good, strong wind that sent us quickly on our way.  
As we oared the ship, Odysseus spoke. He told us we were going to sail past the island of the Sirens. The Sirens, beautiful, yet horrible, bird creatures, that sing such a lovely song. But this song would only bring us death if we were to listen and obey them. Circe, however, had urged Odysseus to listen to the song alone, while we were not allowed. Therefore, we all tied Odysseus vertically to the ship's mast, and if he were to shout for us to untie him, we were to tie his ropes tighter. For us, Odysseus placed beeswax in our ears. It would be impossible for us to listen. Around noon, we passed a lush green island that was pleasant to look at, but I knew it was the island of the Sirens. Before long, two Sirens were flying swiftly towards our ship, their dark hair swirling behind them. I knew that they began to sing when Odysseus started to scream with all his might: "Untie me! Untie me!" With that, my good friend Eurylochus and I stood up and tied more rope about him to hold him still. We rowed on until the Sirens dwindled away. After that we took a short rest. We began peeling off the uncomfortable wax and then set Odysseus free.  
As soon as the island was out of site, however, the sea around us became extremely rough. Us crew all dropped our oars; we were afraid. Odysseus told us to not fear and to stay calm. He added that we are to steer towards a small rocky island that loomed ahead. As we got closer, I saw that Odysseus had put his armor on. This puzzled me. I felt like he wasn't telling us everything we should know. We approached closer, I could tell that the water was rough due to a whirlpool on the ship's starboard side. We kept to the right towards the isle; creepy mist surrounded it. The noise from the powerful whirlpool became immense; all I could hear was the sound of intense rumbling. Then, to my horror, a large monster with six scaly heads plucked away six of our best men that were remaining. One of the men was sitting right in front of me! I could not believe how close I had come to sudden death! The men who had been taken from us dangled from the black dragon's mouth of sharp teeth. They began yelling out Odysseus's name, wanting him to save them. There was nothing he could do, nothing anyone could do. All of the men around me had expressions of awed horror on their faces. Myself, I wept a single tear. I was shaking with fright. Not only that, but I looked at Odysseus, who seemed deeply hurt, but I could tell that he had known. Why hadn't he warned us? I argued with myself that maybe it was for the best. if I had known that we were going to face such a beast, I would have ran below deck, like a coward. The other men would too, and with know one steering the ship, it would have drifted into the whirlpool, destroying the ship, killing us all. I tried to forget about that terrifying image as we continued on, but it was hard. We then were coasting the noble island of the sun god, Helios. We all gazed at his lovely cattle lazily grazing about on the green grass. Then Odysseus spoke again. He told us that Circe and Tiresias had told him to shun away from the island of Helios. If we were to stop here, we would come across nothing but fatal trouble. When we spoke, I became disappointed as ever. I was tired and longed to take a rest on that peaceful island. Eurylochus, being the bold man that he is, argued bitterly with Odysseus. He persuaded Odysseus to let us have a rest on the island. Since we all agreed with Eurylochus, Odysseus had no choice but to let us stay on the island. He then made us, his crew, swear an oath: any herd of cattle we came across, we are not to harm. This seemed simple enough, so we all agreed. For a month we stayed in a cave, we had been stuck there for so long due to the onshore gales. Our food supply was running low. One-day while Odysseus went off to pray to Zeus, Eurylochus made his deceitfully plea. He told us we should kill the best of the cattle for a sacrifice to the gods, and if we make it back to Ithaca, we will build a temple for the noble god of Sun, Helios. And if we anger him, then let us die in the sea rather then from starvation. Many men agreed, but I wasn't so sure. I thought of running off to warn Odysseus, but my hunger took over. The next day, as the cattle were grazing near our shelter, we took our chosen cows. We slaughtered them, and I must admit I enjoyed feeling the warm blood pour over my hands as I sliced one of the heifer's throats. We prepared the carcasses for the offering, saying prayers and the common rituals. No sooner then that, Odysseus was seen watching us from afar, crying out to Zeus in agony. I saw him and felt ashamed, we had betrayed him. Not only that, but Lampetia, daughter of Helios, had borne swift word to the Overlord of Noon of our evil deed. Helios cried out to Zeus telling him to punish all of Odysseus's men. I felt afraid, and I cowered on the ground. Then Zeus made a reply to Helios, promising him he would wreck our ship with a lightening blot. I did not like the sound of that at all. Back in our cave, Odysseus faced us all, disappointed, he was. For six full days we feasted on upon the beef, although queer signs appeared. The cowhides would, as if coming to life, crawl on the floor, slowly. Not only that, but as we roasted the meat, one could hear it quietly moo. Well, my wife, tomorrow we make plans to leave this island. All the gales have ceased. I have shared with you my many adventures, to let you know what I have been facing and so you shall know what a brave man I have been. I will be giving this letter to Odysseus, for if any man does survive, it will be him. As I said before, I am not positive I will make it through. I love you, and do not forget to tell my boys, Telnir and Levolos, that I expect them to bring up a nice strong family.  
  
With my love for you as deep as all the seas,  
Perimedes 


End file.
